G1200 Book Review of Truths I never told you by Kelly Rimmer

Name of Book: Truths I never told you 

Author: Kelly Rimmer 

ISBN: 978-1-525-80460-1

Publisher: Graydon

Type of book: Washington, 1950s-1960s, 1996, motherhood, dreams, post partum depression, journal, artist, secrets, siblings, relationships, 

Year it was published: 2020

Summary:

From the bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say comes a poignant novel about the fault in memories and the lies that can bond a family together—or tear it apart.

With her father recently moved to a care facility for his worsening dementia, Beth Walsh volunteers to clear out the family home and is surprised to discover the door to her childhood playroom padlocked. She’s even more shocked at what’s behind it—a hoarder’s mess of her father’s paintings, mounds of discarded papers and miscellaneous junk in the otherwise fastidiously tidy house.

As she picks through the clutter, she finds a loose journal entry in what appears to be her late mother’s handwriting. Beth and her siblings grew up believing their mother died in a car accident when they were little more than toddlers, but this note suggests something much darker. Beth soon pieces together a disturbing portrait of a woman suffering from postpartum depression and a husband who bears little resemblance to the loving father Beth and her siblings know. With a newborn of her own and struggling with motherhood, Beth finds there may be more tying her and her mother together than she ever suspected.

Exploring the expectations society places on women of every generation, Kelly Rimmer explores the profound struggles two women unwittingly share across the decades set within an engrossing family mystery that may unravel everything they believed to be true.

Characters:

Main characters include Beth Walsh, a young woman who has recently became a mother and who happens to be the youngest daughter of Grace. She suffers from post partum depression and is struggling with asking for help. Grace is the mother who kept a personal journal in trying to cope with her emotions during 1950s. For love she dared to defy her family but in the end it cost her. Her dreams included being a wife and a mother, but she didn't count on post partum depression. Maryanne is Graces unconventional older sister who doesn't want to get married nor have children and sees those two roles as prisons. But yes, the women are very strong and will stay long past last page.  

Theme:

There are no right or wrong choices, just difficult ones 

Plot:

The story is told in first person narrative from Beth's, Grace's and Maryanne's points of view, and it is a time slip story of sorts, from 1996 to 1950s and 1960s. What I enjoyed the most about the story is how non-judgmental it feels of the women and their choices. All characters are drawn as gray and not black and white. I also appreciated the siblings  and the close knit relationship they had with one another. And yes, there is growth that feels real and organic from the characters, not only main characters but secondary characters too.  

Author Information:
(From the book)

Kelly Rimmer is the worldwide and USA TODAY bestelling author of six novels, including The Things We Cannot Say and Before I Let You Go. She lives in rural Australia with her husband, two children and fantastically naughty dogs Sully and Basil. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty languages. 

Opinion:

Since 2018, I was fortunate enough to read a Kelly Rimmer tale and become more and more awed by her writing talent, be it controversial issues or even historical WW2 fiction.( again, why isn't she more popular or well read?)  Truths I never told you by Kelly Rimmer is no exception. In this one, Kelly Rimmer tackles on post partum depression as well as abortion, and she does it in a sensitive manner that will long stay with me, even way past when the last page was turned. And yes, I am crossing my fingers that I will get a chance to read her new upcoming book, THE WARSAW ORPHAN, which will come out on June of 2021. 

This was a goodreads win

5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)